Alone
by peaches2217
Summary: You never really know what you have until it's gone. If you're lucky, though, you might get a few parting words.  Abyo/Ching


**HOLY FREAKING GAAAAAAAAAAAH.**

**Okay, so for those of you (which I'm sure is very few) that have taken notice to my very long leave-of-absence, you might be wondering why I've been off of FF for over a year now (or maybe you were celebrating and secretly hoping that something terrible had happened so you would never have to see another one of my crappy, OOC stories again, which I suppose is a valid answer, too).**

**WELL, since I know that no one is very interested in the story of my freshman year, betrayal, mental hospital, etc. etc. etc, I won't go into the whole story.**

**BUT I'm back now (whether you like it or not :D)!**

**I kinda hate that my very first story uploaded in over a year is a sad story... But I found this buried within the mass of files on my computer (AP classes, I swear -.-'), and I wanted to finish it. I haven't written very much in a while and I'm trying to gather my skills back up, that way AP English won't be so excruciating next year and you won't get really bored with my stories.**

**...Ahhh, it feels good to be back even though no one really missed me :D**

**_Pucca _doesn't belong to me. Dear God, why must we always post these disclaimers when I'm sure this topic has been covered several times before ._.  
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><p>I'm not quite sure when it happened.<p>

I may have just been caught up in my flirting sprees so much, I wasn't paying attention. But one day I began to notice something weird- I hadn't seen Ching in nearly a month. She wasn't out jumping rope with Pucca or taking walks through the town on bright, sunny days anymore. I tried to ask Pucca what was wrong with her, but she wasn't much help. It was like she couldn't talk or something!

I found out soon enough, though. As a matter of fact, I found out when I went into town one day and saw an ambulance pulled up to Ching's house, and, soon after, Ching being brought out of her house on a stretcher.

What the heck was going on?

And that's where I am now.

I run up to the people carrying her out and fight back a gasp when I see her face. It's completely lost all color, and the cute little swirls on her cheeks have disappeared. Her eyes are closed, and she looks too weak to even open them. Her long, black hair is a tangled mess, and it's scattered around her shoulders. The saddest part is that the red and yellow flower that she always wears in it is still pinned into her hair, bright and cheery as ever.

I stare at her for a few more seconds, then turn and see a doctor talking to her dad, who's cradling Won, her pet chicken who always sat on top of her head. Chang (Ching's dad- Yeah, Ching, Chang, don't ask me about it!) has such a sad look in his eyes as the doctor talks, like he's about to cry, and even Won looks a bit depressed- And she's a chicken, for crying out loud!

Suddenly terrified about the situation and how serious it might be, I run over to the doctor and tug at his sleeve. He stops talking to Chang and looks at me, and wha'do'ya know? He even looks on the verge of tears, too! Gosh, this must be_ really_ bad...

"Uh... H-hi," I say. "I'm Abyo, a good friend of Ching's, and..." I don't wanna sound like a crappy friend (not in front of the doctor, anyway), so I say, "I was out of town for a while... I didn't know that she got sick while I was gone... She looks bad."

The doctor nods. "She is."

I gulp. "I-is she gonna be okay? How long will it take for her to get better?"

The doctor and Chang exchange a glance- One that says, "Should we tell him, or should we let him figure it out on his own? Kids these days, you never know how they're gonna react to change."

Now I _know_ this is bad.

"Uhh... I don't know how to break this to you, but..." The doctor puts a hand on my shoulder. "Abyo, we're not sure if she's going to survive."

_Ding ding!_ _WHAM! _I feel like I've just been punched in the gut by some half-naked championship boxer who sees me as a threat to his special, over-sized belt. "W-w-_**WHAT**_?" I literally scream the word once I get it out.

"She has a case called-" some scientific mumbo-jumbo that makes no sense whatsoever unless you've advanced in doctoracy or whatever it's called- "which is a very fatal case that starts out small, but can eventually kill if not treated immediately. I'm afraid she more likely than not only has a small amount of time left to live."

I can't believe what I'm hearing. Ching? _Dying? _At age fourteen? No! This can't be right! It _can't_ be!

"Abyo...?" I barely hear Chang say. "Abyo, are you-" Before he can finish, though, I'm already sprinting over to the stretcher that the paramedics are about to lift up into the ambulance. They stop, however, when they see me coming. I run over to the side of it, and one of the guys steps out of my way so I can see her face again. It hasn't changed much since I last saw it three minutes ago.

My hand carefully reaches out and strokes her face softly, afraid that I might hurt her if I don't watch myself. Her chest is moving up and down under her blanket; not without some difficulty, of course. This all seems so unreal... "Ching..." I whisper softly.

To my great surprise (and delight), her eyelids flutter open, and she looks up at me, her once cheerful brown eyes now a dull gray. "A-a-a-Abyo..." she struggles to get my name out, and I can't help but wince at her voice; That is, if you could call it a "voice". "Y-you're here..."

"Yeah. I'm here."

"Why?"

"Because... I heard you were doing sorta rough, so I wanted to check on you, y'know, make sure you're okay, and..." I don't know how to continue, so I blurt out, "Please tell me they're wrong!"

She gives me a confused look. "Wha... Who's wrong?"

"That doctor was saying that you're dying, and that you're probably not even gonna make it through the night! Please, just tell me they're lying or trying to scare me or _anything!_"

Half of me expects her to laugh, or even roll her eyes, at my melodramatic attitude, but she just closes her eyes and sighs. _So... It's true? _As if reading my thoughts, she nods weakly.

"You... You... _HUH?_" I can't believe this. Why her? Why now? She was always so sweet and caring and innocent. _She doesn't deserve this!_

"I-i-it happens to everyone... Death is as certain to come as sunshine on a warm day..." And now she's using analogies. _Cheerful_ analogies. Doesn't she even care that she's gonna... Y'know.

"I've lived a happy life... I've had the most amazing friends, a great dad-" she coughs- "And... You. I've... I've had you."

My heart skips a beat when she says this. I don't really know what to say... Or even what she meant by that.

She notices my silence and goes on. "Thanks for being my friend, Abyo. You may not have _always_ been there for me, but... I understand. Besides, it was fun." She tries to lift her head up, but she apparently doesn't have enough strength for _that_ either, so she just puts it back down. "Just in case I don't make it, tell Pucca and Garu I said goodbye... And I hope you all have good lives ahead of you. And I also hope that you find a girl that will stay with you for more than a week." She attempts what I think is a giggle.

That's when it hits me like that boxer from earlier's best friend. I'm a player and proud to admit it, so, yeah, in the somewhat modified words of Fergie, "Girls just come and go like seasons" for me. There hasn't been a single girl that's stayed by my side for more than two or three days at a time (well, there _was_ that one chick that I was serious about for a while, Cassie, so that one lasted about a week and a half).

No one except for one girl.

I blurt it out before I can even think about it:  
>"You."<p>

Her eyes fly back open, and she gives me a startled look. "Me...? What about me?"

"You're the only girl I know that's stuck with me through thick and thin all these years... Through all my moments of stupidity..." I pause as I let these words sink in. All of that really is true... Why did it take me this long to figure it out?

"..." is all she says. It's all she needs to say to let me know that she's confused about all of this. Like, why am I just now admitting this? (Because, being me, I just now figured it out.) When am I gonna get some sense? (Probably never.) What am I trying to get at? (A certain three-word statement that I never thought I'd live to use.)

"...All I'm trying to say is that I-" My tongue freezes up. I can't get the other two words out. _C'mon, Abyo, think! Speak! _"Ching, I l- I think you're- I l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l..." I stand there stuttering that one letter for nearly a minute, just trying to get the word out. I figure that if maybe I can get that one word out, she can fill in the blanks from there.

Finally, I collect myself long enough to speak. I look back down at Ching, who's staring up at me curiously. I take a deep breath and say, "Ching, I-"

And just when I'm about to say it, one of the paramedics pushes me out of the way, grabs the stretcher, and the guys lift her into the back of the ambulance.

So much for the moment.

I've come to far already. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I have to finish what I started!

I jump up into the ambulance as well, ignoring the stares and warnings from the paramedics, and head straight for Ching. I know there's no time for words, so as soon as she's near, I grab the edge of her stretcher, lean down, and press my lips against her severely chapped ones.

I can almost feel her eyes widening, along with the awkward silence that's settled over everyone, but I don't care. This may be my last and only chance. If I give it up without trying, how can I go on with all of these unsaid/undone feelings/actions/whatever?

As soon as I'm sure she gets the memo (maybe a bit longer after that... What? You can't blame a guy for liking long kisses!), I pull away and stare into her gray eyes, which now have some sparkle in them.

And she actually _giggles._ Like, a real, actual, happy-sounding giggle.

And then she closes her eyes, and her head lolls back.

And that's when I'm finally shoved out of the paramedics.

The door slams shut, and the sirens sound, the blue-and-red lights nearly blinding me.

And all of a sudden... I'm alone.

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><p><strong>...Yay sadness! *insert sarcastic "woo" here*<strong>

**On a random note, I feel that I need to say something just right fast: Over the past year, I've matured quite a bit and enjoy writing darker stories now. But not to worry, you'll still be seeing plenty of cute, cheerful fanfiction coming from me!**

**OH! That reminds me! If you click on my username (that's right, the one and only "peaches2217" :D), you'll see on my page (which has been cleared of 75 pages-worth of "Penguins of Madagascar" quotes) some stories that I'm thinking about writing. Granted, most of them are Vocaloid fanfics, but I've got some Pucca ideas up as well- be a kind person and take a look and leave me your opinions, please?**

**Reviews appreciated! \(^o^)/ **

**_Peace._ _Love._ _Peaches._**


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